2 Girls. 1 CT. 1001 Things to Say About Dating.

“Love Factually” with Alan Committie

At #rinsebeforeuse we’re striving to keep our Dear Rinsers updated on Love and Dating related events in Cape Town. That’s why last Friday instead of indulging in copious amounts of alcohol we decided to acquaint ourselves with a bit of high culture and see “Love Factually” with Alan Committie at the Theatre on the Bay.

I hope #englishrosiee will forgive me this interference but you can read about other comedy shows I’ve recently seen in Cape Town here on my personal blog biltong101. Among other things, you’ll learn there that I’m not easily impressed by comedy. Having said that, I’d describe “Love Factually” as one of the best comedy shows I’ve seen in years. Alan Committie became well known for a comedy show with a similar theme “Defending The Caveman”. I unfortunately missed out on the opportunity to see it so I didn’t know what to expect from this one. Dear Rinsers, it was HILARIOUS.

The show deals with modern day romance. It discusses the technologies used these days to meet the love of your life and explains terms such a masturdating or textpectation. It makes fun of classic romcoms (“4 Weddings and a Funeral” with Hugh Grant) and more epic love stories like “Titanic”. The comedian mercilessly mocks the lack of realism of love stories on the screen and the jokes are both smart and funny.

The show is well structured and it flows nicely, which I can’t say about many comedy shows. The structure, however, still welcomes occasional interaction with the audience. In comparison to other comedians I’ve seen, this one is very tasteful when making fun of people. Unfortunately some of us are just oversensitive. A man called Jurij (or as you people might say, “Yuri”) got upset about having his leg pulled. He didn’t smile for the first half of the show even though his name was mentioned quite often and eventually left after the intermission with 5 (!) of his friends leaving a gap in the second row. By this gesture of protest he became an even bigger source of fun and the audience was particularly reciprocating when the spontaneous jokes about this man with very little sense of humor were made. The interactions with patrons were really amusing and the relaxed atmosphere resulted in me for the first time ever not being freaked out at the thought of being asked a question by the show’s star.

Were there any drawbacks? Definitely the length. Even though the show was remarkable, two and a half hours (including the break) is loooong. I also didn’t find the dating videos included in the show to be particularly funny. I think Alan Committie is at his best just being his stage self. Other than that no complaints, really. We even managed to get cheap tickets for 120 rand in the corner of the first row. Don’t sit in the first three rows, however, if you’re a very serious man (or woman) like Jurij as you risk being picked on.

To sum up, I strongly recommend the show to anyone who feels like a little bit of entertainment in life. We all know that nothing is as funny as human interactions and the desperate ways in which we’re trying to make sense out of big things like LOVE.